The ballroom at the Conservative Political Action Conference may be filled with big names and boisterous crowds, but it’s in the small breakout rooms where activists and leaders are plotting how to undo what the Obama administration has done.

Unbeknown to California officials, oil producers in Kern County have been disposing of chemical-laden wastewater in hundreds of unlined trenches in the ground without proper permits, according to an inventory that regional water officials completed this week.

Koda, the 10-year-old male polar bear at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, emerges from a cubbyhole atop the 6,000-square-foot enclosure he shares with 14-year-old Kobe. He steps out to a nearby ledge, his head bobbing and swinging from side to side. He then backs into the cubbyhole, head still...

On a summer day in 1885, three Hawaiian princes surfed at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River on crudely constructed boards made from coastal redwoods, bringing the sport to the North American mainland.

Rajendra Pachauri, who supervised work on the two most detailed studies of climate change ever completed, stepped down as head of the United Nations panel studying the science after allegations he sexually harassed a colleague.

Erika Bolstad

President Barack Obama turned to experienced political hands Monday to fill out his cabinet, choosing a top-ranking official at the Environmental Protection Agency as the nations top clean air and water watchdog, and a veteran of the Clinton administration as his energy secretary. | 03/04/13 15:36:19 By - By Erika Bolstad

The State Department announced Friday that construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline is unlikely to have a significant impact on climate change, a finding that could open the door for President Barack Obama to approve the controversial project. | 03/01/13 19:12:18 By - By Sean Cockerham and Erika Bolstad

More than half of the United States remains in drought, although things have improved from the record-breaking conditions last year that killed 123 and added up to at least $35 billion in economic losses, including crop failure and livestock deaths. | 02/21/13 16:55:13 By - By Erika Bolstad

Democrats in Congress wasted no time in taking up President Barack Obama’s challenge Tuesday night that lawmakers take a "market-based" approach to addressing climate change, even if their effort has little hope of success. | 02/14/13 06:31:29 By - By Erika Bolstad

Democrats in Congress wasted no time in taking up President Barack Obama’s challenge Tuesday night that lawmakers take a "market-based" approach to addressing climate change, even if their effort has little hope of success. | 02/13/13 18:46:15 By - By Erika Bolstad

At age 102, its possible Desaline Victor is the oldest guest ever to attend a State of the Union address. But the North Miami woman, known as "Granny" among the citys Haitian community, was chosen less for her age than what she stands for. | 02/12/13 07:02:41 By - Erika Bolstad and Nadege Green

Sen. Marco Rubio will offer up the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address next week, demonstrating the younger, more diverse face of the party as the nation confronts such issues as immigration. | 02/08/13 18:18:50 By - By Erika Bolstad

The United States will struggle to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to promised levels by 2020, a report from a prominent think tank warned this week, but the federal government, states and industry already have the means at their disposal to achieve such goals. | 02/06/13 17:34:37 By - By Erika Bolstad

As Obama prepares to choose a new leader for the EPA for his second term, any unanimity on environmental issues is long gone on Capitol Hill, where the agency has become a favorite whipping boy for those who fear it has too much power. Whoever gets the job will face criticism from the right as going too far in pushing job-killing regulations, and criticism from the left as not doing enough to crack down on polluters. | 02/04/13 14:43:43 By - By Rob Hotakainen and Erika Bolstad

All roads to immigration restructuring run through Florida, and the "tough but fair" approach that’s being discussed this week has at its center two of the state’s Republicans: Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Miami. | 01/28/13 17:45:01 By - By Erika Bolstad

Persuading Americans that they should care about climate change _ or have a duty to do so _ is one thing. Actually doing something about the emissions that contribute to rising sea levels, sooty skies and melting Arctic sea ice is a far more complex task. | 01/25/13 13:22:52 By - By Erika Bolstad

Just before he and other environmentalists marched to the White House on Tuesday, climate change activist James Hansen warned he wouldn’t be able to be arrested with them this time. Hansen, a NASA scientist by day and an activist on his own time, had to be available for a press conference in the afternoon announcing that worldwide temperatures in 2012 were in the top 10 hottest ever recorded. | 01/15/13 19:21:12 By - By Erika Bolstad

A new report warns that climate change driven by human activity already is affecting the American people and economy, with more frequent and intense heat waves, heavy downpours and, in some places, floods and droughts. | 01/11/13 17:01:18 By - By Erika Bolstad